TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
suchenwi
First, I admit to shedding so many tears on this movie since I don't know when. The story of the two unknown sisters who reengineer their parents' marriage is deeply touching, very well executed... and a nice fairy tale ("Kindermärchen", as the last word of the soundtrack says).In practice, divorce isn't children's play. (I've been there myself, divorced with two daughters.) The magic moment where they reunite after 7 years isn't made so plausible either.Anyway, I enjoyed the show - a big sweet dream (with partly impressive cinematography) which includes a very bad dream sequence. In the German version, author Erich Kästner's voice-over is sometimes too much of good, but it certainly adds a stamp of authenticity. Lovely, if you're in that particular mood - I was tonight :^)
mnm1-1
This is a wonderful movie; so much better than any of the "Parent Traps" or "Charlie and Louise". Isa and Jutta Guenther are charming and the movie is quite well acted, both by the twins and the numerous other fine actors and actresses, many very well known in the German film industry.I think the twins look extraordinarily alike, except for one pose of the portraits they have taken together. I don't understand why the director chose the only one of those portraits in which the twins look different. We catch glimpses of the other poses in which the girls look identical. Too bad.Actually, the dream sequence is my least favorite part of the film. I think may favorite scene may be the false Lottchen's first (and only) disaster in the kitchen.I have only seen this film available in German with no subtitles.
marshalldj-1
Because it has been decades since I saw this on TV late at night while babysitting as a teenager, I don't remember all the details, but I think it had subtitles. Is an English subtitled version available on video or DVD? I would love to know. It was, in my memory superior to the Haley Mills version which came out later. How would I track down whether, indeed this is the one that was televised back then? And I wonder if the book has been translated into English. I will have to check on that.As I recall the black and white film that I saw, it wasn't quite as silly as the Disney one or the most recent one, but I am not sure.
MargheritaDTorbiera
There have been many remakes of this movie, mainly in the US and in Germany, but this is the one and only real one!!! Following the book line by line, even the authors comments (given by the author Erich Kästner himself in the movie!) on what is happening, the story is highly enjoyable and more than touching! Set in Austria/southern Germany in the beginning fifties, the story about the unhappy divorce of the famous musician and conductor Ludwig Palffy and the hardworking (at that time!!!) mother/journalist Louiselotte Körner is ever so realistic. Don't let yourself being prejudiced by it's old appearance; this movie is worth watching! Sentiments and misunderstandings, a laugh and a cry, everything comes up. Here, the switch is kept up for at least a couple of weeks, with all the difficult situations to master. In the later movies, like the latest Parent Trap, how funny and nice that one is, the exchange doesn't last more than a few days. But these original Lotte and Louise had a REALLY hard time, keeping it up so long!To me, all the main characters are sympathetic, and that's a must in a movie like this. You really want them to get together again, and are so happy when they finally manage! With, as a symbol, Palffy's atelier moved to the condo next door, instead of somewhere else in the city.The only real minus is the fact that the twins Louise and Lotte don't really look alike. It's quite easy to tell them apart, and therefore rather strange that nobody notices. Their acting isn't all that fantastic either, but on the whole this movie is - at least in my opinion - the best parenttrapmovie ever made.